This invention relates to balancing dampers and more particularly to quick set bracket means adapted to adjust said dampers to intermediate operational positions between fully opened and fully closed.
A balancing damper is an adjunct to the ductwork of an air conditioning or other high volume air handling system which is installed for the purpose of adjusting the flow therethrough into the various areas where the airflow is to be discharged. One type of damper which is utilized for this purpose comprises a plurality of blades which are controlled by a single operator so that they can move from fully opened to fully closed in unison. Furthermore, these are usually adapted so that where some intermediate level of control is necessary they can be stopped and held somewhere in-between to achieve this control.
Many types of multiblade dampers such as those illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,009,473, 3,592,240, and 3,771,559 are used. These types of dampers operate in an opposite blade fashion to create one or more substantially triangularly shaped openings within the damper structure. These dampers all suffer from the problem that as the air passes through them, a significant amount of turbulence is created in the flowing air which causes an excessively large impedance to air flow in the system. This means that in order to achieve the volumetric efficiency required for most large air conditioning systems, larger capacity fans must be used to operate the system.
In still other types of air damper systems as shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,232, the blades do not open in an opposed manner, but act to establish a plurality of parallel channels with laminar flow therein. This creates a minimum impedance flow condition so that for equivalent capacities a smaller fan can be used as compared to that required for opposed blade types of damper systems.
Either type of damper serves the purpose of adjusting the flow into a particular room or working area to achieve proper working temperatures therein. This is especially important with current mandated energy conservation requirements. However, in most devices of this type, quick adjustment of the damper to achieve the necessary flow levels is often quite difficult and furthermore, once set, many cannot be easily locked into this position. The subject invention is designed to overcome this problem.